All of Barbora Krejcikova, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula qualified for the Australian Open quarterfinals on Sunday (January 23).
Follow Us
A clearer picture of the Australian Open quarterfinals in the women’s singles draw is beginning to emerge. On Sunday (January 23), all of Barbora Krejcikova, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula qualified for the last eight of the Grand Slam.
Krejcikova, the defending French Open champion, outlasted Victoria Azarenka in their fourth round match. The Czech would win the match 6-2, 6-2, putting in a good showing against a formidable opponent.
This is her best showing in the season-opening Grand Slam so far in her career. Indeed, after the match, the 26-year-old was unable to hide her pride at her own achievement.
It is worth noting that Azarenka was slowed down by a neck injury. But that does not make the win any less of an impressive one for Krejcikova.
Quarterfinals feeling ?
Soak it up @BKrejcikova ??#AusOpen · #AO2022 pic.twitter.com/xdGYmGcVOk
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2022
The Belarus star was the only remaining Australian Open champion left in the main draw. The fact that she’s now out means a new champion is guaranteed to be crowned in 2022.
Krejcikova will thus face Keys in the quarterfinals, who pulled off the upset of the day by beating eighth seed Paula Badosa in straight sets.
Keys, who is unseeded in this Slam, beat Badosa 6-3, 6-1 in a match that was pretty one sided. Keys won more points on both her first and second serve while also hitting more aces and less double faults.
“I’m really happy with how I played today. I think I served a lot better than I did in the last match. I think I returned well,” Keys said afterwards.
“Overall I just started off either neutral or kind of ahead in the point. I had a lot of opportunities to try to move forward.”
Another top seeded player who exited the tournament is Maria Sakkari. The fifth seed lost out in her fourth round match to Pegula.
The 27-year-old American is thus into the quarters at Melbourne for the second straight year running. This also means that she has matched her best finish in the Grand Slam.
Perfection from Pegula ?
?? @JLPegula is back in the #AusOpen quarterfinals with a 7-6(0) 6-3 upset over No.5 seed Maria Sakkari.#AusOpen • #AO2022
?: @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/ErrDOCI4k9— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2022
The first set of their match ended 6-6, meaning a tie-break ensued. Pegula absolutely dominated the tie-break, winning 7 straight points as Sakkari won none.
Things did not get too much better in the second set. Pegula would go on to win it 6-3 and thus seal the match in straight sets.
